LowMovie

In this unique, compelling film, those who knew him speak freely, some for the first time, to reveal the many mysteries of Francis Bacon.

Unlike any art movie you've ever seen, Making it in Manhattan is informed 'entertainment' about the people who make contemporary art. Artists, collectors, and dealers bring to life the art capital of the world, New York, as it plunges into the 21st Century. Presenting a cross-section of artists, the film discusses inspiration, aesthetics, and the meaning of success. With Louise Bourgeois, Brice Marden, Chuck Close, Neil Jenney, Elizabeth Murray, Ashley Bickerton, Gary Simmons, Ursula von Rydingsvard, Rirkrit Tiravanija, St. Clair Cemin, Ivan Karp, Jay Gorney, Matthew Marks, Jerry Saltz, Herb & Dorothy Vogel, and others. From abstraction to figuration, from installation to conceptual art, from the privacy of the doctor's office to the posh gallery opening, Making it in Manhattan captures the reality of a special world. Music by Tom Waits, Don Braden Ryuichi Sakamoto, George van Eps, Piero Umiliani with Chet Baker.

Steven Ray was never quite normal. But when tragedy strikes in the form of a deadly hit-and-run incident at a city cross walk, his violent and bizarre behavior becomes uncontrollable. One night, as Steven plots his next murder, he meets Percival, whose unsuccessful attempt at suicide not only interferes with Stevens plans, but the chance encounter also introduces the two into each others sad and lonely lives. Percival believes hes cursed after miraculously surviving each suicide attempt and concludes fate brought he and Steven together. So he hires Steven to assist him in suicide. Steven does not believe in fate and thinks Percival is desperate and delusional. But he accepts the offer. Easy money. After Percival continues to miraculously survive each attempt on his life, Steven starts to believe. He tries to help Percival figure out ways to break the curse. And in the process, they form an unlikely friendship through the common bond of tragedy.

Five bizarre stories with no apparent connection to one another eventually become intertwined, resulting in surreal circumstances.

Gory real-life footage of blood and guts on the German Autobahn, drug smugglers getting blown away, a parachutist landing in a crocodile pit, torture and murder in El Salvador, a PCP addict getting stoned, a videotaped rape/murder, a car thief getting ripped apart by two junkyard dogs, and much more.

During World War II, Helmut Dantine specialized in playing villainous Nazis in Hollywood melodramas. He offers a compelling performance in a variation of these earlier roles in this suspense filled and politically loaded tale of intrigue. The story opens in German-occupied Athens during the darkest hours of the war. Civilians are not allowed on the streets after dark.

Tattooing — "the world's oldest skin game" — is the subject of this iconic documentary. Writer/director Geoff Steven scored a major coup by signing Easy Rider legend Peter Fonda as his presenter. Travelling to Aotearoa, Samoa, Japan and the United States, the doco traces key developments in tattooing, including its importance in the Pacific, prison-inspired styles, and the influence of 1960s counterculture. Legendary tattooists feature (including Americans Ed Hardy and Jack Rudy), while the closing credits parade some eye-opening full body tattoos.

Taking its lead from French artists like Renoir and Monet, the American impressionist movement followed its own path which over a forty-year period reveals as much about America as a nation as it does about its art as a creative power-house. It’s a story closely tied to a love of gardens and a desire to preserve nature in a rapidly urbanizing nation. Travelling to studios, gardens and iconic locations throughout the United States, UK and France, this mesmerising film is a feast for the eyes. The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism features the sell-out exhibition The Artist’s Garden: American Impressionism and the Garden Movement, 1887–1920 that began at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and ended at the Florence Griswold Museum, Old Lyme, Connecticut.

The first GRITTY UNDERGROUND feature film ever in Denmark - no budget - no problem! It plumbs the depths of its dark themes with passionate, convincing performances, LAST EXIT is a gritty, sexy psychological thriller. Its antihero is Nigel, an incompetent criminal. He and his wife Maria shack up at a hotel, while each struggles separately with a drug problem. Maria manages to get a straight job, and Nigel gets a gig storing illegal goods for a local crime boss known as the President. Things heat up when Nigel falls for Tanya, a prostitute who works for the President, and their affair makes him ever more distant from Maria. The stage is set for a sex and violence-fueled descent into mayhem that remains intelligent throughout, as the plot twists and secrets are revealed. Maria gets pregnant and Nigel starts to snap, and the only sane one seems to be Jimmie, Nigel's existential pot dealer... "GOOD TASTE MADE BAD TASTE!" - Peter Jackson

A young single mother is held captive along with her two children by a violent ex and must plot their escape before it’s too late.

This is a 1991 documentary film about the legendary artist and filmmaker, Joseph Cornell, who made those magnificent and strange collage boxes. He was also one of our great experimental filmmakers and once apparently made Salvador Dali extremely jealous at a screening of his masterpiece, Rose Hobart. In this film we get to hear people like Susan Sontag, Stan Brakhage, and Tony Curtis talk about their friendships with the artist. It turns out that Curtis was quite a collector and he seemed to have a very deep understanding of what Cornell was doing in his work.

New York based artist, Cindy Sherman, is famous for her photographs of women in which she is not only the photographer, but also the subject. She has contributed her own footage to the programme by recording her studio and herself at work with her Hi-8 video camera. It reveals a range of unexpected sources from visceral horror to medical catalogues and exploitation movies, and explores her real interests and enthusiasms. She shows an intuitive and often humorous approach to her work, and reflects on the themes of her work since the late 1970s. She talks about her pivotal series known as the `Sex Pictures' in which she addresses the theme of sexuality in the light of AIDS and the arts censorship debate in the United States.